do Dips! And do lots of them because they are one of the best tricep exercises

Too simple you think. Well take a look at the triceps of any male gymnasts. These guys have massive horseshoe triceps, with huge jacked arms. Pretty much the only triceps move they do is the dip.

One reason the dip works so well is because you you are using your bodyweight for resistance. Studies have shown that using your bodyweight for resistance or bodyweight plus additional resistance like you do in the dip and chin up with a weight belt or vest, activates a much greater number of muscle fibers than if you were to use a machine, making dips one of the best tricep exercises

Machines move on a fixed path this doesn’t allow the smaller stabilizer muscles to work and there is no need for these muscles to contract naturally as they would in real life.Just like any other mass building exercise the triceps will respond best if you move your body instead of moving a weight stack or an attachment on a machine. Although free weight exercises are very effective and a much better option than training on a machine, moving your own body will always be your best bet when it comes to building muscle.

You have two options when it comes to dips:

use parallel bars

gymnastics rings – only if you are really strong

Proper way to do dips.

Start by tightly squeezing the bar. Brace your abs, kind of like you were going to be punched in the stomach. Lower yourself, but only to the point where your triceps are parallel with the ground. Going lower than that puts too much stress on the shoulders and getting the extra stretch is not worth the risk of an injury.

Dips can be performed three times per week as a beginner. After a few months of that I don’t think you will be confused about how to build big triceps anymore. When you get more advanced it is recommended to cut your dips down to twice per week. Although I used to love weighted dips and routinely had many of my clients perform them with numerous 45 pound plates strapped to their waists I have found, over the years, that there is simply too great a risk of injury with heavy weighted dips and now do not allow anyone in my gym to do dips with more than just one 45 pound plate. Anything beyond that seems to get too risky.

For intermediate lifters you could do one day heavy, where you add resistance to your weight belt, the other day is to be light, there all you do is rep it out with bodyweight. Keep about 72 hours between the 2 days. Once you are strong enough and can easily handle a 45 pound plate it is time to move the dip to a rep exercise because the it is not safe to add more weight and this will no longer be a heavy strength exercise.

To make dips more difficult without adding more weight, try doing them on gymnastics rings or on straps. You can also try holding your legs straight out directly in front of you as well. Either option will be very challenging and are great muscle builders.

The next best muscle building exercise for the triceps is a reduced range of motion close grip bench press or some variation of it. Once you get strong enough this will become your strength move replacing the dips as your strength move. You can also use the board press for your heavy triceps exercise. Still keep the dips but only as a rep movement.

The top half of the bench press really focuses the stress on the triceps which is why you want to limit the range when training simply to increase the size of your arms. To do this you can set pins in a power rack or do a board press where you have a partner hold a few two by fours on your chest. Three, four and five board presses are awesome for building huge triceps and should be incorporated into your routine on a regular basis.

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Keep pushing up the weight and reps and pretty soon people will be asking you about how to build big triceps like yours and you will have the secret to one of the best tricep exercises!
Train hard,